Celebrate food, life and diversity. Join me in the search for the right ingredients: Food without human antibiotics, growth hormones and other harmful additives that have become commonplace in animals raised on factory farms.

Attention food shoppers

We are legions -- legions who are sorely neglected by the media, which prefer glorifying chefs. I love restaurants as much as anyone else, but feel that most are unresponsive to customers who want to know how the food they are eating was grown or raised.I hope my blog will be a valuable resource for helping you find the healthiest food in supermarkets, specialty stores and restaurants in northern New Jersey. In the past five years, I stopped eating meat, poultry, bread and pizza, and now focus on a heart-healthy diet of seafood, vegetables, fruit, whole-wheat pasta and brown rice. I'm happiest when I am eating. -- VICTOR E. SASSON

Monday, September 9, 2013

Should I yield to the temptation of Chinese garlic?

A breakfast of cabbage and salt fish with sweet plantains uses peeled and chopped Christopher Ranch garlic from Costco Wholesale.

By Victor E. SassonEditorMy wife has a lot more patience than I do when it comes to peeling and chopping fresh garlic for our home-cooked meals.

I'd just as soon grab a jar of Kirkland Signature Granulated California Garlic.

We use fresh, California-grown Christopher Ranch Monviso Garlic, an heirloom variety that originated in the Piedmont region of Italy.

A 2-pound net bag of the garlic is $4.29 at my Costco Wholesale in Hackensack.

But I can't tell you how tempted I am by the large jars of peeled garlic cloves I see at H Mart, the Korean supermarket chain in North Jersey.

I peeled and chopped Christopher Ranch garlic for this dish of organic whole-wheat pasta with vegetables and sardines, which I served with tofu and a wedge of frittata.

5 comments:

Costco also has 4lb containers of peeled Christopher Ranch garlic for around 5 dollars. I use this for roasted garlic. I take all the garlic in a baking dish big enough to hold it all and one liter of olive oil. Roast in the oven for 35-45 minutes at 350. Lower the temp to 250 and roast for additional 30 minutes. Watch the garlic, you only want it to get light brown not burn. I hold it in the refrig. to use the cloves and the oil as needed.